Breaking Free from Legalism and Bondage to Rules
Christian liberty, as understood in Protestant theology, signifies freedom from the Mosaic law, from sin, and from slavish fear [3]. This concept is central to the New Testament, particularly in the writings of Paul, who emphasizes that believers are no longer under the law but under grace [6, 9].
The Epistle to the Galatians, for instance, largely hinges on the subject of Christian liberty, arguing against those who would impose legalistic requirements on believers [2, 7]. Paul contends that Christ has redeemed believers from the curse of the law, making them free [2]. This freedom means that the principle of righteousness by faith, always present, is now clearly appropriated through Jesus Christ, and believers are no longer under the law as a guardian [4]. Just as a freeborn child in Greco-Roman culture came of age and was no longer under a guardian's discipline, so too are those "of age" through faith in Christ free from the law's guardianship, serving Christ directly [4].
This liberty is not an excuse for sinful indulgence, but rather a call to serve one another through love [3]. John Calvin warns against misinterpreting gospel liberty as an absence of all authority or law, clarifying that it does not negate civil governance or legal structures [1]. Instead, Christian liberty means that believers are no longer bound by the law's condemnation for sin, as the sentence against them has been reversed by Christ's death [6].
The contrast between righteousness from the law and righteousness from God by faith is a key aspect of this freedom [8]. Charles Hodge argues against the notion that salvation depends on external rites, such as circumcision or baptism, asserting that such teachings are contrary to God's religion and align with an "antichrist" spirit [5]. True freedom is found in Christ, who surpasses the perfection of the law and is the sole source of righteousness [2]. Believers are called to stand firm in this liberty and not become entangled again in a yoke of bondage [2, 7].
Sources
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 102: two things, the nature of which is altogether different. For some, on hearing that liberty is promised in the gospel, a liberty which acknowledges no king and no magistrate among men, but looks to Christ alone, think that they can receive no benefit from their liberty so long as they see any power placed over them. Accordingly, they think that nothing will be safe until the whole world is changed into a new form, when there will be neither courts, nor laws, nor magistrates, nor anything of the kind to interfere, as they suppose, w”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 74: but Christ, who surpasses all the perfection of the law, is alone to be held forth for righteousness. 3. On this almost the whole subject of the Epistle to the Galatians hinges; for it can be proved from express passages that those are absurd interpreters who teach that Paul there contends only for freedom from ceremonies. Of such passages are the following: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” “Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled ag”
- Galatians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Galatians 5:13: The "ye" is emphatical, from its position in the Greek, "Ye brethren"; as opposed to those legalists "who trouble you." unto liberty--The Greek expresses, "on a footing of liberty." The state or condition in which ye have been called to salvation, is one of liberty. Gospel liberty consists in three things, freedom from the Mosaic yoke, from sin, and from slavish fear. only, &c.--Translate, "Only turn not your liberty into an occasion for the flesh." Do not give the flesh the handle or pretext (Rom 7:8, "occasion") for its indulgence which it eag”
- Galatians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Galatians 3:25: 3:25 the way of faith has come: The principle of righteousness by faith was always operative (cp. 3:6-9), but the object of that faith and the means of appropriating it are now clear to everyone through Jesus Christ. • we no longer need the law as our guardian: In Greco-Roman culture, a freeborn child who came of age was no longer under the discipline of a guardian, but was free to rule himself. So, too, those who are “of age” through faith in Christ are free from the guardianship of the law. They serve Christ directly as he leads by his word and Spirit.”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 58: The doctrine that such a man, notwithstanding this thorough change in his inward state in knowledge, conviction, and character, is under the wrath and curse of God, until a little piece of flesh is cut from his body, never was a part of the religion of God. It is part and parcel of the religion of his great adversary. Any one, therefore, who teaches that no man can be saved without the rite of baptism, and that by receiving that rite he is made a child of God and heir of heaven, is antichrist, and “even now are there many antichrists.” ( ”
- Romans (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Romans 7:1: Among other arguments used in the foregoing chapter to persuade us against sin, and to holiness, this was one (Rom 7:14), that we are not under the law; and this argument is here further insisted upon and explained (Rom 7:6): We are delivered from the law. What is meant by this? And how is it an argument why sin should not reign over us, and why we should walk in newness of life? 1. We are delivered from the power of the law which curses and condemns us for the sin committed by us. The sentence of the law against us is vacated and reversed, by the death of Christ, ”
- Galatians (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Galatians 5:1: In the former part of this chapter the apostle cautions the Galatians to take heed of the judaizing teachers, who endeavoured to bring them back under the bondage of the law. He had been arguing against them before, and had largely shown how contrary the principles and spirit of those teachers were to the spirit of the gospel; and now this is as it were the general inference or application of all that discourse. Since it appeared by what had been said that we can be justified only by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by the righteousness of the law, and that the la”
- Philippians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Philippians 3:9: be found in him--"be found" at His coming again, living spiritually "in Him" as the element of my life. Once lost, I have been "found," and I hope to be perfectly "found" by Him (Luk 15:8). own righteousness . . . of the law-- (Phi 3:6; Rom 10:3, Rom 10:5). "Of," that is, from. righteousness . . . of God by faith--Greek, "which is from God (resting) upon faith." Paul was transported from legal bondage into Christian freedom at once, and without any gradual transition. Hence, the bands of Pharisaism were loosed instantaneously; and opposition to”
- Romans (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Romans 6:15: 6:15 set us free from the law: The law of Moses was the governing power of the old covenant era. Believers now live under the governing power of Christ himself.”